Air date January 30, 2012 Competitors 13 | Host RuPaul Origin Pittsburgh | |
 | ||
Broadcast from January 30 (2012-01-30) – April 30, 2012 (2012-04-30) Judges RuPaul, Michelle Visage, Santino Rice Winner Sharon Needles | ||
The fourth season of RuPaul's Drag Race began airing on January 30, 2012, with cast members announced November 13, 2011. The winner of season four will headline Logo's Drag Race Tour featuring Absolut Vodka, wins a one-of-a-kind trip, a lifetime supply of NYX Cosmetics, a cash prize of $100,000, and the title of "America's Next Drag Superstar."
Contents
Like the last season, Santino Rice & Billy B (Billy Brasfield), celebrity makeup artist and star of the HGTV mini-series Hometown Renivation, shared the same seat at the judges table alternatively, Brasfield filling in for Rice when needed. Both judges appeared side-by-side in the audience during the "Reunited" episode.
The theme song playing during the runway every episode was "Glamazon" and the song played during the credits was "The Beginning", both from RuPaul's album Glamazon.
In the season finale, Sharon Needles was crowned the season's winner. Chad Michaels and Phi Phi O'Hara were the runners-up this season making it the first time in the shows history to have 2 runners-up.
Chad Michaels and Latrice Royale competed on the first season of All Stars.
Phi Phi O'Hara competed on the second season of All Stars.
Contestants
The drag queens who competed to be "America's Next Drag Superstar" for season four of RuPaul's Drag Race are:
(Ages and names stated are at time of contest)
Contestant Progress
The contestant won RuPaul's Drag Race. The contestants were the runners-up. The contestant was voted Miss Congeniality by viewers. The contestant won a challenge. The contestant received judges critiques and was ultimately chosen to be safe. The contestant was in the bottom two. The contestant was eliminated. The contestant won the challenge but was disqualified from the competition. The contestant returned as a guest for the finale episode.Lip-syncs
The contestant was eliminated after their first time in the bottom two. The contestant was eliminated after their second time in the bottom two. The contestant was eliminated after their third time in the bottom two.Guest judges
(In alphabetic order by stage name and/or last name)
Marketing
In January 2012, Logo released the second running of Fantasy Drag Race, an online fan contest inspired by fantasy football where viewers assemble a team of three season four Drag Race contestants. Players receive and lose points based on their team's performance on the show, and can earn additional points by redeeming codes and performing tasks given out when episodes of the show first air. The highest scoring players receive Drag Race and NYX Cosmetics products, and one player wins a trip for two to the first stop on Logo's Drag Race Tour.
Already having a generous social media presence, Logo expanded its efforts across Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, GetGlue, and Foursquare in preparation for the premiere of season four. Both RuPaul and contestants tweet live while the show airs, and LogoTalk! chat parties (featuring judges, contestants from previous seasons, and contestants from season four) occur on the official Logo website while participants watch new episodes. Season four specifically marks an increased interest from Logo in Tumblr, where the network publishes animated GIFs, contestant trading cards, and images that incorporate internet memes. Dan Sacher, VP of digital for VH1 and Logo, has stated that their online marketing efforts are part of helping the small network expand their fan base across as many outlets as possible.
Reception
The premiere episode of season four averaged a 0.6 rating in the 18-49 demographic, totaling 481,000 viewers, and ranked as the highest-rated premiere in Logo's network history. Untucked totalled 254,000 viewers, marking the companion show's most watched debut. During the evening of the premiere, the show registered eight US trending topics on Twitter (including Jiggly Caliente, Sharon Needles, Phi Phi O'Hara, and Latrice Royale) and reached a 7th place ranking on Trendrr. Leading up to the first episode, the show's Facebook page saw an 89% increase (earning over half a million fans).
The season finale scored a 0.7 rating in the 18-49 demographic and drew 601,000 viewers total, while the reunion episode became the highest rated episode of the season. Season four's "RuPaul's Drag Race: Reunited" was also the highest-rated reunion in the franchise's history, seeing a 33% increase in the 18-49 demographic compared to season three. The reunion registered five trending topics on Twitter (including Sharon Needles, Phi Phi, Willam, and a new portmanteau Willam introduced to the show: "RuPaulogize"), and ranked 4th among non-sports cable programs for the night on Trendrr.
During season 4, the show's Twitter following increased by 77%, and the Facebook page accrued a 36% increase in likes. TV.com also declared it was the best reality show on television.